It is known to provide electrical connectors for connection to a flat circuit by the use of cantilevered contact arms or beams. Typically, such a connector includes a relatively low profile dielectric housing which mounts a plurality of terminals. The terminals include the cantilevered contact arms or beams for surface engaging appropriate circuit pads on the flat circuit. Opposite ends of the terminals are appropriately connected to the conductors of another connecting device. For instance, the opposite ends of the terminals may comprise tails for connection, as by soldering, to circuit traces on a second flat circuit. Therefore, such connectors can readily interconnect a pair of flat circuits, such as a pair of printed circuit boards or a printed circuit board and a flat flexible cable, for instance.
One of the problems in using cantilevered contact arms or beams is that the beams do not always provide uniform and reliable contact pressure against the circuit pads on the flat circuit. In other words, the resiliency of the beams is not consistent. This typically is due to the fact that stresses are not distributed evenly over the length of the contact arm or beam. This results in inconsistent contact pressures applied by a plurality of beams. The present invention is directed to solving these problems by an improved contact beam structure in the terminals of such electrical connectors.